How to Handle Motorhome Accidents and Insurance Claims

While your practice of safe motorhome driving tips should prevent most accidents from happening, sometimes it’s beyond your control and a collision occurs. If you are involved in a minor accident in your motorhome or dinghy vehicle, here’s the basic information you should obtain.

Once you determine that nobody is injured, make sure to get complete details from any other party involved before leaving the accident site. Keep this list in your glove compartment, along with paper and pen:

– Driver’s name, address, phone number
– Driver’s license number and state of issuance
– Name of insurance company
– Insurance policy number
– Vehicle make, model and year
– Vehicle identification number
– Registration (license plate) number and state of issuance
– Vehicle owner’s name, address and phone number (if different from the driver)
– Time, date, location
– Names and addresses of any witnesses, passengers

INSURANCE CLAIMS

If your RV has ever been damaged, either in an accident or by vandals, you know that getting it fixed and going through the claims process sometimes can be tricky. Whether you are in your coach or not when it is damaged, it’s usually you who is left to deal with getting it fixed.

Even though many of us have probably filed an insurance claim at some point in life, chances are we may not remember how the process works. Experts say that getting organized early on may help expedite things. Here are a few common sense tips, in the event you ever need to file a claim:

– Gather as much documentation as you can regarding the incident. This should help speed up the claim process.

– Be familiar with your insurance policy, so you won’t be confused about what coverages you have and which ones you don’t.

– Once you file the claim, and if your policy covers the damage to your vehicle, your insurance company will make arrangements with you to have the damages evaluated. It’s a good idea to start this process immediately, since insurance policies typically contain provisions requiring that the policyholder report the claim as soon as possible.

– If the claim involved another party or more, try to get information from everyone involved — including name, address, phone number, insurance company and policy number. Having this information in hand will help with the claims process and will get you back on the road quicker.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

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